I am over doing laundry. Seriously, I'd rather walk over hot coals than spend another second folding shirts that I don’t even remember wearing. It seems no matter how many tiny pairs of pants I fold, there’s always MORE. At this point I am convinced my family is actively creating dirty clothes just to toy with me.

So how do I tackle this never-ending responsibility? (Code for: How do I keep myself from setting these last two loads on fire just so I won’t actually have to fold them??)

Welp, here are four tips to conquer laundry chaos.

Have one laundry basket for whites and one for colors. This simple trick will eliminate the need for sorting. Just toss your clothes in the proper basket at the end of the day and poof, no more sorting!

I hate laundry. I don’t think that will ever change. The best thing I can do for myself is find ways to keep my sanity. Since I started staying at home, I have come to realize for me this notion pretty much applies to any other domestic obligation. You are in control of your frustration. If something is driving you crazy, I can guarantee you someone on the Interwebz has already figured out how to do it better, faster, or easier. Google it, baby!

So tell me, what are your tips and tricks for beating the laundry pile?

Every morning I am basically kicking and screaming for just 5 more minutes. After reading this article by designer, writer John Zeratsky, I am inspired to try something new – being a morning person. Everyday I literally drag myself from the bed. It feels like I am wading through quicksand as I stumble through my morning routine. That desperately dazed sensation follows me through the morning basically eliminating any potential for genuine productivity.

Despite the sleep deprivation characteristic of early parenthood, I am resolute in my desire to become better equipped to take on the day. Who knows? Maybe the best version of myself is a bright eyed, peppy housewife and mother that wakes with a plan for the day, makes breakfast for her family and sits down for early morning coffee in an, at least relatively, clean kitchen. The real problem is figuring out how I go about reprogramming almost three decades (oh Lord, why did I write that) of bad habits? 

All signs point to a need to drop my late afternoon nap but I'm not convinced I'd make it to bedtime without keeling over. Then again no matter how tired I am when my head hits the pillow, my brain remains totally active waiting for a bleat from the baby monitor. And as with any other self-fulfilling prophecy, just as my eyes shut and I begin to slip into sleep my sweet little son wakes with a whimper.

I don't know how successful this venture will be. I might go down in a blaze of flames. So in the spirit of lukewarm commitment, I'm going to give it a full two weeks. I'll update on what's working for me and what’s absolutely not. The first and most important step of my plan...buy coffee!

Laugh at my pain with these insanely accurate representations of my morning nonsense from BuzzFeed. Or be productive and check out this or maybe this for some tricks of your own to become more useful in the AM.

Something already working for you? Are you a reformed snoozer? What are your morning routines? What gets you ready the day?

Since having Ty I have discovered there are three questions everyone always (and I mean always) asks. Is he sleeping through the night? Are you breastfeeding? Are you going back to work?

Most of the time these queries are posed for the sake of civil conversation. Then there are the others. The others ask because they want to know if you too have accepted your membership to the very unfortunate peoples club.

The others want to know if you are waking at all hours of the night because Jack only slept for 30 minutes at a time until he was 11 months. And for some reason they take pleasure in knowing that you too are failing miserably to sleep train your little monster – so by some sort of twisted logic they aren’t terrible parents after all.

The others are interested if you are breastfeeding because Oliver is still going strong at 23 months, although they are admittedly worried because it seems he is beginning to self wean and it feels a little soon, right? Meanwhile, I quit breastfeeding months ago because frankly, it was awful. It's a touchy subject but the fact remains I resented that pump and I didn't enjoy my nipples being used as chew toys. Furthermore, if I had to hear, “If it hurts, you’re doing it wrong” one more time I was going to throat punch someone.

The others are also genuinely concerned about your career plans. They need to know who will care for that little baby? If not you, who will make his organic, gluten-free, soy-free, buckwheat chia waffles every morning? Who will teach him baby sign language and organize his rock collection? Okay yes, I do stay home – but please don’t be disillusioned. I’m a mess and managing a little person all day only compounds the chaos. Everyday I resolve to do better. Baby steps. If I somehow make it out of pajamas and into real clothes two consecutive days that my friends is what I call victory.

So I said all that to say, no my son does not sleep through the night. In fact, I’m concerned he might be a vampire.

Well that was the question. I have since answered, loc! I have a love, hate relationship with the phrase “natural hair journey.” Afterall, I am not my hair, and all that. Truth be told I have not devoted half of the effort I probably should have to cultivating the gorgeous, bouncy curls I am almost certain my hair is capable of achieving. Nevertheless, I have decided to embark on, what for me has always been, an inevitable experience – dread locs. I have gone natural (chemical-free) four separate times. Each time I was lured from the virgin hair path by the promise of creamy crack. Each time the long, silky mane I had envisioned manifested instead as brittle hair with insane breakage.

This time around I have been natural for 2 years and I’m going strong. In these last couple years I’ve only pressed (straightened) my hair twice. (I’m still not quite sure why this is an accolade worth mentioning in the natural hair community, but I digress) My 4A hair has been good to me and I’m excited to set it free. No more products. No more fuss. While I don’t have the courage to go full tilt with free form dreads, I am ready to take the leap. It’s really not quite as dramatic as it sounds. It’s actually less of a leap and more of a vertical shoulder shimmy into a new division of the natural hair club. This is a fairly permanent transition and rightfully so, I am obsessed with loc size. There is no way to anticipate how my hair will swell as it locs so I am anxious to see how it responds to this process. If you are looking for some super sweet locs @Patience_edet will have you salivating over her red tresses.

So here are the deets. I’m starting this set of locs using two-strand twists because my hair is past shoulder length. They will be installed by a professional loctician because I am completely paranoid about having a fantastic grid and I want uniform parts. I did some moderate research and found a local shop with good reviews and loads of client images to look at. After visiting the shop and having a consultation I was sold. So here we go. I will be sharing updates from my loc journey (le sigh, there it is again) monthly. I will post pics after the installation. Check on my progress and watch as I pursue a life shaped by that age-old proverb, long hair, don’t care.